


can't sleep without you

by wrennette



Series: family is more than blood [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Blanket Permission, F/F, do not copy to another site
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25178200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrennette/pseuds/wrennette
Summary: Numa's pretty sure that Sabine's been flirting with her.
Relationships: Numa/Sabine Wren
Series: family is more than blood [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1824016
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	can't sleep without you

**Author's Note:**

> title from "be without you" by mary j. blige
> 
> there's like, a word of Ryl and a word of Mando'a, so they're in hovertext and endnotes.

Waking, Sabine felt an uncommon peace deep within herself. She glanced over at the beautiful Twi'lek woman sleeping at her side, and smiled, remembering the night before. It had all started with a quiet tap at the door to her cabin.

Sabine had looked up from her datapad, brow furrowing. The soft tapping came again. She rose, dropping her datapad onto her bunk and crossing the narrow space to the hatch. While she was technically the commander of the Ca'senaar, Sabine had given the more spacious captain's cabin with its wider bunk to Sasha and Fenn, and taken a smaller, but still private, cabin for herself. 

Pressing the door release, Sabine blinked against the brighter lighting in the hall, slightly surprised to see Numa standing before her. She stepped back, letting the taller woman enter. Numa smiled, the curl of her lekku indicating nervousness. 

"Is something the matter?" Sabine asked, gesturing for Numa to sit on the bunk, then perching at her side. 

"No, no, nothing is the matter," Numa said. She bit her lower lip, then reached out. Her long fingered hand hovered a moment over Sabine's, then settled, sliding her palm over the back of Sabine’s hand and intertwining their fingers. "Only, I do not want to misstep in this." Sabine cocked her head slightly. Numa glanced over, a small smile at the corners of her mouth. "It is - I think - you spar with me often," Numa observed. "More than the others. And watch me spar."

"I do," Sabine agreed, her pulse ticking up. She swallowed. "If I'm monopolizing too much of your time-"

"No," Numa cut in. "No. It is not that. Only. I know that the clones - their culture is not yours. Not exactly. So I can - make a best guess. But I think -" she paused, and reached across their bodies with her other hand, touching Sabine's cheek. Sabine turned with the touch, and Numa leaned in, brushing their foreheads and noses together. "This is how you Mandos kiss, isn't it?" Numa breathed, her words warm against Sabine's chin. Sabine's breath hitched, and she felt her cheeks heat.

"Yes," Sabine said, and shifted slightly, resting her free hand on Numa's shoulder and tilting her head to bring their mouths together. Numa hummed quietly and kissed back. "But we know how to kiss like you offworlders too," she murmured against Numa's lips as they eased back into a Mando kiss for a few breaths.

"Oh good, I was hoping you knew how to kiss like the rest of us," Numa said with a hint of a tease, and kissed Sabine again. 

"Yes," Sabine gasped, and sank into the sweet sensation of Numa's soft, warm lips moving slickly against hers, the probing of her tongue. "As warning though-" she nipped Numa's lower lip, then kissed her again "-we usually don't do much more than kissing before we marry." 

Numa huffed a soft laugh against Sabine's mouth, then kissed Sabine again. "Kissing you - I think that could make me very happy for a very long time," she said, shifting so they settled again into a Mando kiss, heads resting together as they breathed one another in. 

"Me too," Sabine said, soft warmth spreading through her as her fingers and Numa's tangled together.

They sank into the bunk together, kissing and nuzzling together. Sweet, slow kisses grew warmer, wetter and deeper, then eased back off again, into light, teasing brushes of their lips and noses. Numa shifted them, using her greater mass to pin Sabine to the mattress and raising an eyebrow in question. Sabine swallowed thickly, but nodded. Numa smiled, pink eyes tender as she leaned in to pepper little presses of her mouth against Sabine's forehead and nose and eyelids and cheeks, her mouth and along her jaw. 

"Hirani," Numa murmured when she sat back up, straddling Sabine's thighs. Sabine didn't recognize the word, but she could guess more or less what it meant from Numa's appreciative tone. She flexed her hands on Numa's thighs, kneading the powerful muscles. 

"K'olar," Sabine said, voice husky. She slid her hand up the outside of Numa's thighs and groped her firm ass before pressing up her back. Numa grinned and let herself be pulled down against Sabine's chest. She rubbed their noses together, then rested her forehead on Sabine's. 

"No more than kissing before marriage hmmm?" Numa asked, and licked into Sabine's mouth, twining their tongues together. Sabine moaned, pushing her hips up between Numa's thighs. 

"Not usually," Sabine rasped. "For mando'ade, marriage is about making a family. I'm from a pretty traditional family, so I was raised believing sex comes after that commitment, even for couples who can't biologically procreate together." 

"And if I just wanted to stay with you tonight, and sleep at your side?" Numa asked, gently brushing her fingers through Sabine's short hair. 

"I would like that," Sabine said, leaning up for another kiss. "And I'm not saying that I wouldn't be willing for there to be more with you, I just - was raised with those expectations."

"It's a bit sweet," Numa said, shifting so she lay alongside Sabine, rather than over top of her, although she kept one of her legs slung over Sabine's. Sabine flushed, then shrugged. It had been a while since anyone accused her of being _sweet_. Numa smiled, continuing to stroke Sabine's hair. 

"Feels nice," Sabine murmured, eyes lowering as the initial rush of their intimacy faded and softened. It was comfortable, laying together like this, Numa warm at her side. As they slowly relaxed into one another, Sabine let her imagination charge forward. 

More kissing, yes, and the feel of Numa's silky skin beneath her hands. She smiled at the thought, and nuzzled closer to Numa, lipping against her neck. Numa pulled at her waist, and they shifted closer again, lazily rocking against one another. 

"If you're staying the night, I'm going to change and wash up," Sabine said after a little more cuddling, and Numa made a soft sound that might have been agreement. Sabine rose, reaching up behind her shoulders and tugging at the fastenings of her flightsuit. She'd taken the plates of her beskar'gam off hours before, since she was just doing datawork in bed, and sitting for that long in armour could get uncomfortable. She was glad she had - while it wasn't impossible to get intimate while wearing armour, it was difficult, and having fewer layers between them was an unspoken expression of trust. 

Clad in a loose tunic she'd stolen from her brother, her face washed and teeth brushed, Sabine padded back to the bunk. Numa had disrobed in her absence, and lay half beneath the covers with her headwrap, dungarees, and bra folded next to her boots on the floor. Sabine flushed as her eyes drifted from Numa's bared head to the soft swell of her breasts loose beneath her snug top. The bottom of the shirt rode up over Numa's flat belly, and Sabine could see the tiniest bit of her panties before her pelvis and thighs disappeared beneath the blankets. 

"Come, rest," Numa encouraged, and Sabine nodded, then slotted herself into the bunk. They shifted carefully to accommodate one another, and finally curled together with Sabine's head resting on Numa's shoulder, Numa's fingers once more carding through her hair. Sabine relaxed into the caress, her own fingers seeking out the firm curves and divots of Numa's muscular arm. Slowly they relaxed into sleep. 

Sabine smiled, knowing she would treasure the memory of this night for a long time. Even if nothing developed between her and Numa, the comfort of sleeping in Numa's arms, the peace of waking at her side, were of immense value in the harried existence of a Rebel against the Empire.

**Author's Note:**

>  **translations:**  
>  hirani (Ryl) = exceedingly beautiful  
> k'olar (Mando'a) = Come here
> 
> i'm also @wrennette on tumblr, dreamwidth, and pillowfort, feel free to come say hi!


End file.
